8 More Days

Almost time to move. Of course, in trying to get all my utilities switched there was bound to be a snag or two. One of my snags, however, turned out to be a blessing.

I discovered that my newly renovated suite has no telephone jacks. As well, there isn’t any wire left for a telephone – as it’s all been ripped out. So I phoned Telus to see what that would mean. As it turned out, they were already planning on charging me a $100 move fee that I wasn’t aware of – and now they wanted to charge me $20/hour for installation (approx. one hour).

Yeah, right. So I looked into Shaw phone and Internet and discovered that the monthly price would be the same, but there would be a $25 install fee and, as a new customer, I would get an intro price for the first six months. Sounded like a no brainer.

I phoned Telus to tell them goodbye, and they suggested I speak to a “loyalty rep” first. So I did. First, he tried to convince me that having an Internet phone was just plain bad.

Rep: If your power goes out, so does your phone!

Me: Dude, it’s the 21st century. I have a cell phone.

When that didn’t work, he tried to explain to me about regulations.

Rep: Shaw isn’t regulated like we are by the CRTC. That means they can raise their prices on any whim.

Me: I doubt that would happen.

Rep: Why?

Me: Because of competition. And, just like today, when the prices are too high I can just take my business elsewhere.

We had a moment of pause, where I told him that it was time to transfer me to whoever I needed to speak to about discontinuing service. He lead me about half-way through the process, and then started throwing deals at me.

Rep: What if I give you phone and Internet for $60/month?

Me: That would still be $20 a month more than Shaw, plus there’s the $100 move fee and installation.

Rep: It isn’t $20 a month more…

Me: I’m on Shaw’s website right now. Basic phone and Internet Lite is $42 a month. Do you want the link?

Rep: Oh. Uh, no, that’s okay. Well … we’d give you high speed….

Me: I’ve had lite before, and now I have high speed. For my purposes, lite is fine. I’d feel silly paying for something that I don’t really need, wouldn’t you agree?

Rep: Yeah, I guess…

It went on like that for a while longer. Still, they threw deals at me. Then they threw one that stuck. I did ask for it in writing, as I don’t want to suddenly get my bill and have them claim they’d *never* do a deal such as the one I claim I got.

My advice: if you are with Telus and not under contract, it’s time to phone and negotiate what you are paying. The deal they gave me is less than their “intro” deals on the web, and that’ll be my permanent price for the next two years.